Las Vegas’ famous Tropicana casino closes after 67 years

LAS VEGAS, Nevada: Sixty-seven years after opening on April 4, 1957, the Tropicana, the third-oldest casino on the Las Vegas Strip, permanently closed on April 2.

As part of Las Vegas’ latest rebrand as a hub for sports entertainment, demolition is scheduled for October to make room for a US$1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics.

The famous hotel, nicknamed the "Tiffany of the Strip" for its opulence, was the most expensive and lavish casino, costing $15 million to build.

The Tropicana became a Las Vegas landmark not just because of its location but also due to its lore as a pop culture reference in movies and TV shows, conjuring up memories of vintage Vegas.

A portion of Francis Ford Coppola’s "The Godfather" was filmed at the Tropicana, and it was featured in the 1971 James Bond film, "Diamonds Are Forever."

"I hear that the Hotel Tropicana is quite comfortable," Bond said in the movie.

When a gunman opened fire into a crowded country music festival from a high-rise suite at the Mandalay Bay in October 2017, the Tropicana, which was located nearby, sheltered thousands of people fleeing the gunfire.

Tennille Pereira, director of the Resiliency & Justice Center, formerly the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, which was created in the aftermath of the shooting to aid survivors and families of the victims, said, "The Tropicana welcomed them all in. They provided some first aid as needed and a safe place for them until the danger passed."

"The Tropicana embodied the spirit of Las Vegas that night by jumping in and doing everything that they could, and not thinking of what that would necessarily mean for them at that moment," Pereira said.